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Spark	By : DivineAngel Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 20930 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Chapter 6: Half
Truths and Close Encounters

Hermione wolfed down some
dinner, blocking out the noise around her and gathering her thoughts
and feelings in preparation for being alone with Snape. He stalked
into the hall as Hermione was half way through her dinner, she
stopped dead and watched him take his place at the staff table. He
looked fierce, brooding and sexy, Hermione's insides churned over.
She watched him peck at some food, apparently not really interested,
until he eventually pushed his plate away and leaned back in his
chair. Hermione felt a nervous shiver, thoughts were racing through
her head about what he might be thinking. He seemed edgy and Hermione
told herself that he was nervous about seeing her in his lab. Nervous
because he knew he wasn't going to be able to control himself around
her. Hermione smiled, a giggle bubbled up inside her and an excited
hope spurred her into action.

"I have to go."
She said to Harry suddenly, pushing her plate away and standing to
go. Ron looked up from his food, his mouth full, his eyes wide.

"Everything ok?"
Harry voiced, looking mildly concerned.

"Yeah, fine."
Hermione smiled. "Just got to meet someone." The boys
looked surprised. She thought quickly for a cover. "Just someone
from Arithmancy, we're studying together, couple of nights a week. I
have to go get my books first, so I'm off now. See you later."
The boys muttered satisfied responses and went back to their food.

Back in her dormitory,
Hermione tidied her hair and make-up and straightened her robes,
toying for a moment with the idea of changing out of her uniform. She
decided that would be far too obvious and set of for the dungeons as
she was.

A few minutes later,
Hermione knocked on the lab door and slipped through it. Snape was
sat at the bench with his arms crossed, scowling. He watched her
enter and move towards him, she was smiling but looked nervous. Snape
shifted on his stool, his scowl deepened.

Hermione sat down
opposite him, wishing he would speak. She nervously chewed her bottom
lip and tried to get eye contact, but he was staring fixedly at the
bench.

"Professor? What are
we doing this evening?" Hermione finally asked, desperate to
break the stony silence and curious to know what was bothering him so
badly.

"Hmm?" Snape
looked up, right into her eyes. "Right, yes. Well, I've been
going over my notes and haven't found anything of much use."

"Ok, so what next?"
She looked back at him and he seemed to be distracted again, Hermione
began to feel increasingly tense. What could be so bad that Snape,
the master of his emotions, spy extraordinaire, was so hopelessly
lost in his thoughts? "Sir? Is everything alright?" She
reached a hand out across the bench, letting it rest just in front of
him, right where his eyes were fixed.

Snape looked at
Hermione's outstretched hand, her skin looked so soft, so perfect.
Part of him yearned to take hold of her hand and kiss it, but now he
had confirmation that she was involved with Lupin and he felt sick
with himself. She was his student and the plaything of his childhood
enemy. He was appalled with himself for being so tempted by her. He
followed her arm with his eyes and looked up into her face, the
concern seemed evident in her eyes, but he knew it was nothing more
than her general good nature and concern for all people, he was
nothing special to her.

"I assure you, Miss
Granger, everything is fine. But I fear we are wasting our time
here." Hermione looked at him questioningly. "I know you
want to help, but I'm concerned that we aren't making any progress. I
don't believe the answers will be found in books." He stood up
and disappeared into his private store cupboard. Hermione stood up
and followed him into the little room. It was lined with shelves,
each covered in rows of jars, bottles, packets and equipment.
Hermione smiled, remembering her adventure into this room in her
second year.

Snape was pulling things
down from the shelves when he caught sight of her grin. He smiled
inwardly, pleased at her obvious excitement at seeing the broad
collection of items.

"This is a really
impressive collection." Hermione said, suppressing the urge to
spill the beans. Snape handed her some jars to carry.

"Thank you." He
gave her a nod and stepped round her to reach for something. Hermione
was very aware of him beside her, close at last and she felt a buzz
of excitement. She was grinning again and Snape cast a frown her way.
"Miss Granger. Are you quite alright?" He stood back from
her, balancing several containers with expert dexterity.

"Erm, yes. I have a
little confession to make." In that instant Hermione lost all
sense of caution. "But, I've been in here before." Snape
cocked an eyebrow. "In my second year." She recounted the
story in brief, about finding the Polyjuice potion in the very book
they were using now, about brewing it and Harry and Ron disguising
themselves as Crabbe and Goyle to find out information from Malfoy
about the Chamber of Secrets. She left out the part about growing fur
and a tail herself.

Snape listened with a wry
smile, he was impressed by her ingenuity and skill both in getting
into his private stores and brewing the potion. He refrained from
commenting, simply gave a tut and "hmm". Hermione was
giggling at the end of her tale and Snape had to remind himself that
she wasn't flirting with him, she was simply elated at the happy
memory. He realised with a sickening thunk to his stomach that he had
falsely accused Potter for stealing ingredients, he should probably
apologise. No, there was no need for that. The thought of Potter
brought a new matter to mind, as they moved from the store cupboard
back into the spacious lab, he had to ask,

"What have you told
Potter and Weasley about what we are doing?" Hermione put down
the things she was carrying and gave a brave smile.

"I haven't. They
think I'm studying Arithmancy. To be honest, we're not as close these
days anyway. I don't know what they're doing most of the time
either." Snape was surprised, but didn't show it. "I still
love them both, very much. Or I wouldn't be here now, obviously. But
Harry is, well, you know..."

"No, I don't."
Snape said, not happy about the turn of topic. He cared little for
the private affairs of two of the most troublesome students to ever
exist.

"I know you probably
can't understand this, I know you hated him, but Sirius was
Harry's godfather. He's really struggling with his death."
Hermione was idly fiddling with the ingredients in front of her, she
was clearly upset and Snape had to fight the urge to comfort her. She
didn't need him for that, she had Lupin. "So, he keeps to
himself a lot these days. And Ron, well..." She giggled, taking
Snape by surprise. "He's got a crush on Professor Sullivan."
Snape snorted, he was visibly amused.

"Really? That is
interesting." Hermione looked at him, he was smiling and that
made her smile.

"I heard that when
she was a student here, she gave you a run for your money."
Hermione felt incredibly cheeky, but she was feeling brave too. She
felt like she could say anything to Snape right now, since he hadn't
reacted badly to finding out her old secret. He raised his eyebrows.

"That was an
exaggeration. Ms Sullivan had, shall we say, an attitude. She was
good at Potions, I believe she achieved the highest grade of everyone
in her year at NEWT level."

"How do you feel
having a former student teaching alongside you?" Hermione asked,
dishing out ingredients and weighing them. Snape was doing likewise,
he didn't seem to mind the question.

"It was inevitable
eventually." Hermione watched him weighing out ingredients, his
face was blank. She felt satisfied that they were conversing on a
more personal level, becoming friendly. It gave her more cause to
hope that her developing feelings for him might be returned.

The term slipped by more
quickly. Hermione continued meeting with Snape a few times a week,
they spent their time testing the potion, adding new ingredients and
removing others. They went about it very systematically, but they
were challenged by the inability to test their work on a living
subject. Their progress was slow, they had no real way of knowing if
they were even making any progress. They could only go by the
explosions and standard tests on charmed objects. Their conversations
continued to be frank and gradually more humorous and personal.
Hermione really felt she was getting to know Snape, she had begun to
think of him as Severus, rather than Snape and her imagination filled
with fantasies about him. They were relatively innocent fantasies,
mostly centred on forbidden physical contact, the brushing of hands
when reaching for the same object, or heads touching when leaning
over the cauldron. She did imagine him confessing his undying love
for her too, with growing regularity.

With only a few days
until the Christmas holidays, the castle was cold and dark, the sky
was grey and the landscape bleak. Hermione made her way to the
dungeons for the final research session of the term, the torches
burned brightly in the dark corridor and she was clutching her robes
tightly around her against the chilling draft. When she entered the
lab it was dark and empty. Puzzled, she made her way into the room
carefully, looking around for signs of life. There were none. She lit
her wand and went to the store cupboard, it was locked. Hermione was
beginning to feel nervous, a small amount of panic was threatening to
erupt and she left the room quickly, locking it behind her. She
looked both ways along the corridor, the torches casting eerie,
flickering light that didn't help to calm her nerves. Turning right,
with fierce determination swelling inside her, Hermione set off for
where she suspected Snape's secluded quarters lay hidden, deep in the
bowls of the castle. She raced down the corridor to a set of steps
leading steeply down to the right, away from the main corridor and
the route to the Slytherin common room and dormitories. She took the
steps two at a time and sprinted down the corridor at the bottom.
There were less torches down here, those that were alight gave off
almost green flames. Hermione stopped and looked for a door, she
walked on slowly and lit her wand again, checking both walls.

She came to the end of
the corridor, there was a wide door, green-flamed torches burning on
either side. Hermione took a deep breath and knocked hard on the
door, she wasn't certain that this was the door to Snape's quarters,
but it was her best guess. There was no answer, Hermione tried the
handle, it turned and she withdrew her hand rapidly with a gasp
escaping her lips. The heavy door now hung ajar, there was a light
flickering on the other side, there was no sound except for the
crackle of flames. Hermione summoned all her Gryffindor courage and
pushed the door open.

What she saw came as a
surprise, she smiled a little and entered slowly. Behind the door was
a spacious lounge, tapestries hung on the walls and a large fireplace
was alive with a warm blaze. The flag-stone floor was covered in
front of the fire by a large, thick rug in burgundy and cream
swirling patterns. On it stood three double sofas arranged in a
square with the fire, they were all black corduroy with red scatter
cushions and deep, inviting curves. Hermione walked a little further
into the room, there were three doors, one on the far side of the
fireplace to her right and two on the opposite wall to her left. If
this indeed was where Severus Snape lived, it came as a huge surprise
to her, it was so warm and cosy, lamps lighting the corners and a
distinct lack of green and silver from the furnishings. There was a
low wooden coffee table in the centre of the sitting area, on it
stood a bottle of Ogden's Best Firewhiskey, the premium variation of
the classic, nearly empty, with a lone glass beside it.

The door in the far left
corner was standing slightly open and Hermione edged towards it, her
wand clutched tightly in her hand.

"Hello?" She
called out timidly, there was a shuffling in the far room, then
silence, more noise then the door swung open quickly. Snape appeared
in the doorway and stepped boldly into the lounge, he was flushed and
flustered, obviously surprised to see her, his wand held loosely at
his side.

"Miss Granger..."
He said, stopping just inside the room. He looked from her back into
the room he had come from and then around the lounge. "What are
you... How can I..." He didn't seem able to form a sentence and
Hermione couldn't help smiling at him.

"I'm sorry, but we
were meant to meet in the lab. You weren't there."

"Yes, I'm sorry. But
how did you know where to find me?" He moved into the room,
closing the door behind him, he looked distracted and bothered by her
presence. Hermione's nervousness returned and she glanced over her
shoulder at the open door to the corridor.

"I don't know, I
thought your quarters were bound to be down here and I just followed
my instincts. I'm sorry to bother you. I won't tell anyone where you
live." She turned to go and felt Snape close the gap between
them, his hand closed around her arm and she turned back to him, her
eyes wide and her heart beating fast in her chest.

Snape pulled her to him,
holding tight to her arm, and their bodies slammed together. With a
flick of his wand the door slammed shut and Hermione jumped a little.

"I'm sorry I wasn't
there to meet you. A situation has arisen and I have to leave the
castle tonight." His eyes were intense and Hermione felt her
breath quicken, exhilarated by the bodily contact and his firm grip
on her. It was almost as though he was afraid to let her go, Hermione
watched his lips and felt sure he was about to kiss her. She felt
weak in the knees and light-headed, time seemed to slow so that every
second passed with perfect clarity. His voice broke her trance with a
single word she had never heard him utter, "Hermione," His
voice seemed far away, but drawing closer. "I don't know how
long I will be gone, it's a dangerous mission."

Hermione wanted to grab
him, hold him, to let him know how she felt about him. She tilted her
head up to him, willing him to lean down and take her lips with his.

Snape looked down at the
beautiful young woman pressed against him, her full lips turned
towards him. He felt deeply buried passions stirring inside himself.
He felt his face slowly lowering towards hers, her eyes fluttered
closed and he felt his own do likewise, subconsciously, he licked his
lips, preparing them to join with hers. His nose was mere millimetres
from hers when his rational mind kicked in. Snape stepped back
suddenly, releasing her arm, his breath was ragged.

Hermione opened her eyes
and looked at him, confused, flustered. She pressed her hand to her
lips, feeling them tremble. So close, they had been so close. Why had
he pulled away?

"Miss Granger. I
have to go right away." He quickly marched to the door and
opened it, he looked back at her, confused. Had she wanted him to
kiss her? What about Lupin? She was young, confused. She didn't know
him, if she did have feelings for him, they were misplaced. Hermione
nodded and left without a word. Snape closed the door and leaned
against it, his head spinning. He forced his brain back into the real
world and charged back to his room to finish getting ready. He had a
job to do and his head had better be in the game.

AN: I had a feeling this
would be a speedy update! I seem to be on a roll at the moment. I
hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for your reviews and support,
it keeps me going.
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